Explicit requests for physician-assisted suicide are not uncommon in psychiatric practice in the Netherlands, but these requests are rarely granted. Psychiatric consultation for medical patients who request physician-assisted death is relatively rare.

The intervention we studied had clinically relevant effects on important outcome variables. Psychiatric co-morbidity was an important risk factor for the outcome of the patients in our study. By combining elements from a psychiatric and geriatric consultation service with elements from a unit-driven service, we were able to improve health care for the elderly in our hospital in a feasible and cost-effective way.

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The study demonstrates a high risk of attempted suicide and a low risk of completed suicide among young Turkish and Surinamese females.